XCOM has shades of Bioshock

I’m coming into XCOM as a newbie. The computer game passed me by in 1994. Back then, I was more into Doom and Syndicate rather than UFOs and secret government organizations. But the original is universally acclaimed, and I was curious to see what all the fuss was about with the reboot.

What I saw last month at E3 reminded me a lot of Bioshock. Part of the reason is that the game is made by 2K Marin, the studio that created a good return trip to Rapture. The other half is that XCOM is built off the same engine as the genetically enhanced shooter. There are other similarities between the two. They’re both set in the past: BioShock occurs in the 1960s while XCOM takes place in the 1950s. There’s cameras involved in booth and taking pictures offers benefits in both games.

But the biggest difference between the two is subject matter and structure. While Bioshock dealt with gene-spliced monstrosities in an underwater city, XCOM focuses on a post-World War II America that faces an alien threat. That’s the whole reason XCOM exists. After discovering an alien artifact, the government sets up the agency to fight the unknown dangers, handle scraps of information and figure out why this force is invading our world.

It all starts from a converted airplane hangar, which is actually the XCOM base. You have a staff working for you, researching alien technology, examining newspaper clippings and figuring out where the next incident is. The scientists will analyze any information you and your team collect from the field and use it to create weapons to combat certain aliens or improve your arsenal. In addition, an adviser named Angella will also assist you with mission info and details.

That’s the macro game. The microgame involves you picking one mission to tackle. They’ll show up as blue dots on a map, and the rewards will be different. You can help an unsuspecting neighborhood or search for Illirium, a substance that fuels alien technology. Every choice has an impact though. If you decide to take one mission, the other will be eliminated. You have finite resources and a certain number of team members to go out in the field.

Once you pick your mission, XCOM enters a more action-oriented phase. You’ll investigate an incident with rifle in hand. Your partners will also be packing heat and other aid to keep you alive. Before going, you can load up on fire grenades, which are effective against blobs. A powerful lightning gun can be used to easily kill stronger enemies.

At first, you’ll have no idea where exactly the threat is. You’ll have to explore and check the map, matching it to the surrounding neighborhood. Everything is done without menus. Using a map brings up a physical map in front of you and that doesn’t pause the game. As in Far Cry 2, the world still goes about its business.

Eventually, while you’re exploring, you’ll hear cries for help. You can choose to investigate it or ignore it to continue the mission. Again, your decisions have an impact. Helping others may mean the aliens will kill other victims. Stopping to photograph a body may reveal more information on how to stop certain creatures, but it may also mean you’ll be too late to save a neighbor.

When you actually encounter an alien in a house, the situation gets messy. You’ll have to protect the residents and at the same time kill the beasts. That means scorched walls and broken furniture. Homemakers will be screaming up the stairs and cowering in a corner. Meanwhile, you’ll be firing, chasing and trying to kill the alien that’s rearranging itself on the walls ceilings. The scene reminds of something out of Ghostbusters.

In the demo I saw, all hell breaks loose after a new block like creature shows up and starts blasting everything. The hero loses agents in process. They’re fried by the beam that the creature directs. It’s chaotic as the hero tries to stumble to his car and escape to base. I wondered if the main character would escape, and if he did, how would he combat such a thing.

I guess I’ll have to find that out when XCOM is scheduled to release next year.